1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a shaft suspension system particularly suitable for drive shafts in drive assemblies of motor vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In known shaft suspensions of this type (see JP 100 53 035A, for example) the inner ring and the outer ring are normally made from steel and the connecting member is a rubber bellows, for example, vulcanized to the said two rings. The bearing support is a steel bracket which surrounds the outer ring on its circumference but leaves its front faces free. The outer race of a roller bearing, in which a section of a drive shaft is supported, is pressed into the inner ring of the shaft suspension. When designing such known shaft suspensions there is a conflict of goals because on the one hand the resilient connecting member has to be sufficiently rigid to deal with static and dynamic shaft forces, whereas on the other hand it is desirable to design the connecting member as soft as possible in order to keep the transmission of structure-borne noise from the drive shaft and its shaft bearing to the load absorbing object, in particular the bottom of a motor vehicle, as little as possible.
It is the object of the invention to design a shaft suspension system in such a manner that on the one hand it can be subjected to considerable static and dynamic shaft forces but on the other hand prevents to a considerable extent the transmission of structure-borne noise from a shaft and its shaft bearing to the load-absorbing object.
According to the invention, this object is met in that the shaft suspension system has a rigid inner ring designed for receiving a shaft bearing, a rigid outer ring surrounding the inner ring with radial clearance, a resilient connecting member bridging the clearance between inner ring and outer ring, and a bearing support which extends about the outer ring and includes lugs for fastening it to a load-absorbing object, wherein the bearing support is composed of a support plate on which the lugs are secured, a flexible loop which is suspended from the support plate and extends around the outer ring, and an elastomer member into which the loop is embedded.